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The ongoing laptop ban, March’s Westminster attack and the shocking scenes at Manchester Arena have brought terrorism back to the front pages in the UK. Since the start of 2017, there have been 496 attacks, with 3,292 fatalities (at the time of writing) across the globe.

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Many of the gravest attacks have taken place in nations relatively overlooked by the majority of the public including Nigeria, Yemen, Somalia, and Bangladesh. To highlight the problem, and preserve a record of these atrocities, Esri Story Maps has teamed up and PeaceTech Lab to build the Terrorism Map.

Based on crowdsourced data, the map shows a chronology of terrorist attacks worldwide on the left-hand side and each of the attacks are plotted on a map using coloured circles on the right. From the list on the left, you can scroll back through 2017 to see which attacks occurred on which dates.

The Westminster Attack is plotted on the map

Esri Story Maps

Each entry shows the suspected group behind the attack and the number of fatalities. Clicking the entry expands the box to show more details about the attack, taken from Wikipedia, and the map will automatically zoom to the selected location. A drop-down menu additionally lets you filter the list by specific terrorist groups. If a terrorist group hasn’t been linked to an attack, or hasn’t claimed responsibility, the perpetrator group will be listed as other, unknown, in the case of the Manchester attack, or, in the case of the Westminster attacker, lone wolf.

Alternatively, you can select a location on the map to see the list of recent attacks in that region. And, to see attacks in previous years, change the date in the URL to the year you want to study.

This screenshot shows the spread of terror attacks across Europe, the Middle East and into Africa in 2016

Esri Story Maps

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As with any crowdsourced data, the map may display spurious or objectionable data, for which Esri and PeaceTech Lab said they hold no responsibility. “Similarly, the definition of terrorism is inherently subjective, and in the case of this map is determined by the contributing community,” the team continued. You can dispute events by submitting revisions to Wikipedia via the “Improve the Map” button.

Perpetrators on the Terrorism Map

Boko Haram

This radical Islamic militant group is based in Nigeria and allied with ISIS. In 2014, Boko Haram was the deadliest terrorist organisation responsible for at least 6,600 deaths.

Islamic State (ISIL, ISIS, Daesh)

A radical Islamic militant group that controls large parts of Iraq and Syria.

PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party)

A militant Kurdish group based in Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan. It is fighting to establish an independent Kurdish state and targets Turkish government and military facilities.

Al-Qaeda

This radical Islamic group is said to have active cells in more than 20 countries. It claimed responsibility for the 9/11 and 7/7 attacks before its leader, Osama bin Laden, was killed in 2011.

Al-Shabaab

A radical Islamic militant group in East Africa. Al-Shabaab is allied with al-Qaeda, but operates independently.

Taliban

The Taliban governed Afghanistan from 1996 until the US-led invasion in 2001. It is renowned for brutality against civilians, especially women and Afghanistan’s Hazara ethnic minority.